this is roderick (i know, strange name for an octopus. i think it's roderick like roddy mcdowell but i'm not quite sure.....). just finished in time for seattle steamcon 2011. he's a fully poseable octopus "sculpture". for those of you familiar with the whole pacific northwest tree octopus thing (or who watched the discovery channel show a few years back where cephalopods become semiterrestrial and take over the world in a few million years), i think he's one of those. and he likes to hang out in my hair. yeah.

anyway, i'm pretty happy with how he turned out. a couple issues to work out but he spent three full days in my hair or on my shoulder and did not totally disintegrate, so i consider this a success.i should be posting more stuff very soon, got lots of new things to post but things keep coming up....

thank you!funny you mention that....one of the things that's on my "to make" list now that school's not eating all of my time is smaller versions of him that would be easier to wear all the time! (i love wearing him, but he grabs things o.O).question: would you happen to have any ideas what sorts of casting materials would stand up to long-term bending and not cost a small fortune (or, if possible, be a total pain in the ass to use) that might work better for the legs? roderick was sort of a test of concept, so i used the cheapest stuff that would work. needless to say, his legs are now in pretty bad shape.

I'd use Silicone with a core of woven armature wire. If you're careful with it, it should last a very long time. The wire will give out before the silicone does. With the new paint kits for silicone it's no longer so hard to paint it up really well. You can use plaster molds too, which is pretty easy. let me know if I can help in anyway, people have always been really great in helping me (he's so fun, you must make another)

some one i knew, she worked at the sealife centre and the octopus was always escaping from its tank, they even found it on the beach once. this one time, it went missing and they couldnt find it for a couple of days, then its keeper came in to the lunch room, turned around and it was on his back, he didnt believe the others that it was there until its tentacle came over his shoulder.